Re: Photoshop USM and CMYK conversion

[zxiong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Dear David,

Thanks very much for your message.  I'm learning through all the discussions
and I'll try to explain some of the things I figured out myself.

I'm in fact a scientist by profession. Over the last 15 years or so I did 
nothing but photography in my free time.  Gradually I became more and more
involved in photography.  Aside from artistic aspirations, I like to reason 
before I take photos. After shooting Sydney for a couple of years, I knew
the best place to get a pano view of Sydney as well as the fireworks shows
was Mrs. Maquarie's Chair. And I knew the tidal conditions. Into December last
year everybody was talking about the Millennium firework display. I carefully
collected information on this party including parking conditions, for there 
would be millions of people out there.  Then I thought about what cameras to
use.  Noblex doesn't do night view very well.  It take at least a half hour
to do a proper exposure on Velvia or Provia (F).  It's out for fireworks. Other
cameras don't offer the 150+ degrees of angle for the entire harbour.  So I
searched the Internet and found some stitching software very interesting.  
Among many others, there was The Panorama Factory 
(http://www.panoramafactory.com).
I downloaded many other demo programms but I found The Panorama Factory to be
most useful for my purpose. It was designed for fine art photo work.  It's
fine tune feature was very important for seamless stitches because otherwise
ghosts due to distortions would be hard to fix in Photoshop.

On the day of fireworks I took four cameras with me, a Noblex 135U, a Hasselblad
XPAN with 45 mm f/4, a Fuji GSW with 65mm f/5.6, and a Nikon FM2 with a AIS
Nikkor 35 mm f/1.4. I decided to use the new Provia F instead of Velvia because
I knew the new Provia would scan better plus it had finer grain than Velvia and
was one stop faster than Velvia.  I still carried the Noblex because I wanted
the city background on the Noblex just as the daylight ended when light level
was about f/4.5 at 1 s.  I did that although I didn't use the frame in the final
image. When I arrived at Mrs. Macquarie's Chair there were peolpe occupying all 
the vintage spots.  I couldn't camp over there as many others did, for I had
other work to do. I put my tripod on a rock submerged by sea level at the very
end of the point that was in fact the best place to see the fireworks other than
on a boat. I knew by the time of the fireworks the tidals would recede.  I had
to fight with security to keep the tripod in there.

In the end I shot about 200 frames. It took me about two months to finalize the
image which I just finished yesterday.  I had to calculate the scan resolutions
for the different frames taking with different lens/cameras before I put them
together.

I hope this answer your question regarding what I meant by "planning".

Regards

Dr Zonghou Xiong
Senior Research Scientist
CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining
Sydney, Australia


>Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 08:35:19 -0500
>From: David Hibbeln <dhibbeln@xxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: RE: Photoshop USM and CMYK conversion
>To: "'panorama-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <panorama-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Errors-To: Steven.Morton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Reply-To: panorama-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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>Dear Zonghou Xiong;
>
>If my question are simplistic, please forgive.
>
>I am an old photographer getting back into things after 25 years away.
>For a number of years I did dye transfer and custom black and white printing
>for the advertising industry in Chicago.
>
>Did things like 4 foot x 8 foot black white murals, 20 inch x 24 dye
>transfers.
>Worked with Widelux, glass plates, collotypes, 4 color sheet & offset, 8x10,
>11x14 negs. When I left the field the digital drum scanners where just
>coming in.
>I saw the future and left!
>
>I studies with a photographer called ART SINSABAUGH at the University of
>Illinois. 
>He was doing wide landscapes of the flat plains of the great plains of the
>USA midwest.
>Images were shot on roll film 9" and contact printed. Great stuff.
>
>I found an used Widelux a while ago, and said hey, I got more high tech
>stuff then most. So I am learning fast.
>
>>  Many of the 12x40 images were
>> stitched together using both Photoshop and The Panorama Factory by John
>Strait
>(free download).
>
>What pray tell, is the URL for "The Panorama Factory"?
>
>
>>.Prior to my shooting of the New Year's Eve firework here in
>>Sydney,  I knew  none of my existing cameras would work. So I chose the
digital
>>route and had everything well planned.  One of the images that I'm working
on 
>>is that firework show.
>
>When you speak of planning, what do you refer to? Position of camera sights?
>and overlaps areas?
>
>Regards,
>
>David R. Hibbeln
>IT Director
>Tobin & Collins CPA PA
>voice 201-487-7744
>fax 201-487-8848
>email - dhibbeln@xxxxxxxxx